sleep

Each generation brings fresh perspectives to the way they live their lives. 

Each generation finds its own way of looking at things…Image from Pixabay

One trend to emerge from the Millennials (born 1981–96) and early Gen Zs (born 1997–2012) is self-optimization. 

Personal optimizers are aiming to optimize their productivity, happiness, intelligence, and health. If personal growth is about doing the right things, then personal optimization is about doing things right.

Healthy posture and a pain-free body enable you to optimize your work, rest, and play! Image from Pickpik

So what do self-optimizers work on?

Optimizing can be about doing what you are doing better, faster, with fewer resources, to higher quality, and with better results. The optimizers’ mindset needs self-awareness: awareness of your preferences, and what choices you are making every day—look at all the options and pick the best one. 

Some examples of self-optimization include exercising regularly, taking care of your diet, managing time and stress, and getting enough sleep, all with the aim of making your body and mind more resilient against fatigue, negative mood, and illness.

Broadly speaking, optimization is the act of changing an existing process in order to increase the occurrence of favorable outcomes and decrease the occurrence of undesirable outcomes. And this is exactly what the Gokhale Method® does—it enables people to exchange unhealthy, damaging, painful posture, for healthy, healing, pain-free posture. This allows you to meet your potential for musculoskeletal health.

Gokhale Method students can use the latest biofeedback tech with the Gokhale PostureTracker™ to assist in optimizing their posture.

Healthy posture helps you walk your talk

Healthy posture gives you a body that is upright but relaxed, and super-comfortable to live in, with an athletic bearing that says you are ready for life. People instinctively perceive this in others, and it makes a positive impression. 

Wealth coach, life coach, and entrepreneur Ramit Sethi saw himself in a photo taken from the side, and didn’t like what he saw. Presenting himself well is a priority for Ramit, so he went looking for help—he had no idea if such a thing as a posture coach existed. Back last December, he spoke generously on his YouTube channel about his sessions with Gokhale Method teacher Cynthia Rose, which he described as “life-changing.” 

Ramit explains how he optimized his Gokhale Method sessions to a busy schedule in NYC. For Ramit, healthy, good-looking posture is one of life’s riches.

Rahul shares his posture optimization on Google

Rahul Reddy runs his own business doing analytics for internet startups. Before his Gokhale Method course he wrote, “As a result of many hours at my desk I’ve lost strength, flexibility, and most certainly good posture. My goals are: 

1) Better posture and physical activity habits on work days. I have picked up bad movement and posture habits as I spent more time building my business. 

2) Rebuild my strength in other activities—I maintain a small vineyard, and work with clay… and I did enjoy doing more with my hands during the pandemic. 

3) Continuous improvement and future-proofing. 

Rahul took our in-person Foundations course, and later our online Elements course. Among the many techniques he has learned in becoming pain-free, he knows to externally rotate his legs, roll open his shoulders, open his chest, lengthen his neck, and engage his inner corset. Rahul now enjoys a more stable, athletic, and symmetrical stance.

Rahul was delighted to get out of pain and enjoy his activities more than ever by learning the Gokhale Method. Thank you for your Google review, Rahul!

Don’t be a posture pessimizer

Ok, that’s not a real word, but if you are a posture pessimist then you might find yourself saying things like, “I think I inherited my bunions,” or “Everyone in my family has a rounded upper back,” or “Nobody in my family has a butt,” or “I’m learning to live with my back pain.”

These statements are usually premised on misinformation, or are wanting in alternative points of view and experiences. For example, a posture optimizer will know:

• Bunions happen due to poor stance and undue pressure on the first metatarsophalangeal joint.
• A rounded upper back is often a result of tucking the pelvis.
• A flat butt simply points to the fact that you haven’t yet learned to use your buttock muscles in walking.
• Just because back pain is common does not make it normal! We should expect to not have it.

You don’t have to be a Millennial to be an optimizer! Every generation stands to gain from being inspired by healthy, pain-free posture. We are passionate about helping all people discover their best, pain-free selves.

Best next action steps

If you would like to optimize your posture, get started by booking a consultation, online or in person, with one of our teachers.

You can sign up below to join any one of our upcoming FREE Online Workshops…

It’s early January. New Year’s resolutions have swung into action, and many of them involve improving our health. With the impetus of a fresh start, we throw ourselves into ditching poor habits and cultivating better ones. It’s no surprise that January sees the highest gym sign-ups and enrollments for dietary regimens! Other resolutions include getting more sleep, meditating, or learning a new skill—self-care for the mind as well as the body. 

 
Most of us will have made a New Year’s resolution in at least one of these areas. 

Posture—a missing pillar of health

One little-recognized yet equally important pillar of health is posture. At age 27, I had thought I was active, fit, and robust, yet found myself in excruciating back pain with a newborn baby to care for. Long story short, by changing my posture—the way I sat, stood, bent, walked, and even slept—I lost the pronounced sway in my back, recovered my natural J-spine, and have been pain free, active, and thriving ever since. There is more about what I learned from my teachers and developed into the Gokhale Method® in this recent blog. 

An MRI scan revealed the cause of my sciatica and severe back pain—a large herniation at L5-S1.

Picture an active, pain-free future 

Imagine a future with virtually no back pain, no need for joint replacement, an absence of repetitive strain injuries, and comfortable feet, neck, and shoulders. This was a reality for our ancestors. . .and there is nothing they had that we can’t regain! Our bodies are malleable, and we can learn to move naturally—in fact, healthy posture is written into our DNA. Sometimes the required changes feel strange, but there’s a sweet spot sensation to them, and they often feel strangely familiar. Gokhale Method teachers have a lot of experience in guiding students to make these changes efficiently and effectively. We’ve already guided tens of thousands of people out of back pain and musculoskeletal problems. No doubt some of them started that journey with a New Year’s resolution! 

Gokhale Elements alumna Anne Murtagh from Ireland joined our two Alumni Days in Germany this fall. Here I am helping Anne to refine her glidewalking.

The key to manifesting good intentions 

Life is busy, and self-care resolutions can be hard to keep. A posture resolution is different in an important regard. Yes, it does take some investment of time to learn, but following that it will save you time—you will be walking faster, sleeping more effectively, and saving time spent seeking care for aches and pains. Rather than being an additional undertaking or needing hours of sessions per week, changing your posture is more a matter of living daily life differently. And you are rewarded with all sorts of benefits, like improved appearance, a more positive outlook, and improved digestion, breathing, sexual function, and elimination. Out with the old posture that caused you tension, compression, and pain, and in with a new, more relaxed, efficient and effective way of being in your body. 

Our students trust the Gokhale Method for valuable information and insights taught in logical steps. They also appreciate quality backup from whatever props, coaching, technology, alumni programs, and online community they need to succeed. Here is a what Gokhale alumnus Sachin Deshpande has to say:

It is not an overstatement that the Gokhale Method changed my life and reduced 99% of my body pains—back, foot, knee, elbow, and more. It takes a month or two to grok the concepts, and then real benefits begin. I would suggest both reading the book and taking the classes (which are quite affordable).

Sachin (pictured above) found the Gokhale Method through my self-help book, 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back. This doubled as a textbook when he took the Foundations course. You can read Sachin's story here. 

The past, the present, and looking to the future

Students sometimes remark on the historical data that is an essential ingredient of the Gokhale Method. We draw extensively on ancient and ancestral roots, referring to both science and cultural artifacts to learn posture wisdom from the past. We are also very much in the present, offering in-person courses around the world and embracing today’s online and wearable technology to deliver remote learning. As we travel forward into 2024, we very much hope you will be with us for a healthy, pain-free future.

 
The Roman god Janus gave his name to the month of January. He was the god of beginnings, transitions, time, doorways, gates, passages, and endings. He was often depicted facing both ways, to the past and to the future. Note his healthy head and neck posture! Image from Wikimedia

Best next action steps

If you are new to the Gokhale Method, get started by booking a consultation, online, or in person with one of our teachers. Or you can sign up here
for our special New Year Free Online Workshop Start 2024 Pain-Free with the Gokhale Method, Tuesday, January 9, 12 a.m.–1 p.m. (PST), to find out how the Gokhale Method can help you.

You can sign up below to join any one of our upcoming FREE Online Workshops. . .

Lithuania, 1957: my parents' wedding day.

Everyone in this photograph reflects effortless elegance and poise. Notice that their shoulders are resting toward the back of their torsos, and their necks and backs are elongated; very different from the modern "chin up, chest out, thrust your pelvis forward” stance. This photograph was taken on my parents’ wedding day. My mom and dad are on the left. Healthy posture has contributed pain-free living (musculoskeletally speaking) well into my mom’s advanced years. She didn't have aches and pains until my dad passed away, two years ago.

Resolving knee and leg pain
My mom is very gentle, yet she can be stubborn! Despite recent complaints of leg and knee pain at night, she was adamant that she did not need Gokhale Method instruction. At 95 years old, she said she was too old to change and had no time for “such things.”

However, I could see that when she used the stairs a lot, her pain would increase. In the end, she consented to instruction — and subsequently reported diminished leg pain, and increased stability in walking.

We know that leg pain can be local and/or referred from the low back. To address the legs and knees locally, I showed her parts of the glidewalking technique. To help take the pressure off her back, I taught her stretchsitting and stretchlying on the back.

Knee pain can sometimes result from posture issues. Image courtesy Dr. Manuel González Reyes on Pixabay.

Foot grab and bum squeeze
Weak arch muscles can cause the feet to pronate, which is the case for my mom. Pronation pulls the leg in, creating misalignment in ankle, knee and hip joints. Notice the white arrows in the photos below, showing my mom's legs and the feet moving in dramatically different directions. No wonder when she goes up and down the stairs, her symptoms flare up!

My mom's usual way of climbing stairs pulls her femur and foot in two different directions.


She experiences the issue on both sides.

The solution was to incorporate glidewalking elements with every step on a new stair. I taught her to grab the floor with the foot and squeeze the bum (same side) with every step. This engages the foot and glute muscles and reshapes the leg and foot into healthier architecture and articulation. See my mom make this change in the photos below. Notice how her thigh bones and feet are now aligned!

After incorporating Gokhale Method techniques, my mom's femur and foot on each side are now aligned while climbing stairs.

Learning glidewalking was key for helping my mom recalibrate her stair-climbing technique.

After addressing her legs and knees locally with glidewalking, we helped take pressure off her back with stretchsitting and stretchlying.

Stretchsitting
My mom loves to decompress her back by stretchsitting in the Gokhale Pain-Free™ Chair. She lengthens her back against the backrest and maintains a gentle traction while she sits. Moreover, a Gokhale-style shoulder roll helps open her chest and decrease hunching on top. With a history of chronic bronchitis and heart issues, this small gesture supports these organs with more space and better orientation. Quite a contrast to her “before” sitting photo!

Above, my mom’s “before” photo sitting in a typical chair, with hunched shoulders and a rounded upper back. Compare with her "after" photo below.

    
Here, my mom uses a Gokhale Pain-Free Chair to stretchsit, effecting gentle traction in her spine, and positions her shoulders with a shoulder roll to gently open the chest.

Stretchlying on the back
Finally, we learned stretchlying on the back as another practical way to decompress the low back, illustrated below. Once the spine is lengthened by stretching, it is supported with strategically positioned pillows. A pillow under the shoulders/head elevates the upper torso and flattens any sway in the low back. A second pillow under the knees relieves pressure in the low back by relaxing the psoas. She now has a relaxed, lengthened back while she sleeps.

This sketch shows how stretchlying helps gently lengthen the spine.

Results
My mom now stretchsits and stretchlies easily on her own. Walking and taking the stairs continue to be works in progress but she is already very pleased with the results. With diminished pain she sleeps better and has more energy. Hands-on instruction does help things stick! In fact, she is now enthusiastic to learn more Gokhale Method techniques.

While we all await a return to in-person teaching, you can schedule an Online Initial Consultation with one of several qualified online teachers to begin individual posture coaching and begin learning these techniques (and more!) yourself.

To be continued!

I’ve taught stretchlying on the side for decades. So it’s a (welcome) surprise to discover a way of arranging the neck that is both more effective in adding additional neck length and more relaxing for the neck muscles.

It takes good form to be able to get rest on a surface this hard.
 

In July, reindeer herders in Samiland corral their reindeer to mark the ears of the unbranded calves. This involves stretches of waiting, some of it done reclining on the side, as above.

To date, I’ve taught students to grasp a clump of hair at the base of the skull and pull backward and upward so as to elongate the neck and slide the head back along the pillow into a healthier configuration.

Grasping the hair to guide the back of the head up and back.

My head is supported by a pillow and my forearm acting as a second pillow.

A new technique for lengthening the neck in stretchlying on the side
When I sleep on my side, I usually sleep on just one pillow and place my forearm under the pillow to add a second layer of thickness. Recently I discovered that I could use that forearm to manipulate my head position and enhance the stretch of the back of my neck. By slightly extending my forearm, I was able to elongate my neck further. Using my arm beneath the pillow, I was easily able to manipulate the pillow to move my head where I wanted it to go — rotated forward and glided back. This without tensing a single muscle in my neck and getting a better result — more fine-tuned and with a stronger stretch if that’s what I want (I do). The head’s journey back was very smooth — the pillow provides a soft, cushioned interface, and almost creates the illusion someone is doing the maneuver to you.

A supportive family supported by J-spines!

Forearm and pillow supporting an elongated neck. Enjoying a happy moment on the day of the public television program shoot.

Have you discovered extra techniques that improve your neck’s posture journey? Please do share your discoveries so everyone can benefit!

I’ve had lying on my mind lately. I mean flat out, horizontal, no holds barred, delicious, snooze-inducing lying down. It’s not talked about much in the debate whether we should sit, stand, or treadmill our way to better lives. But I say, hey, lying is where it’s at when you are tired, when you need a break, when you need a rest. 

My son Nathan knows this quite well. When he Skypes with us, he is usually in his bed, covers pulled up high, computer set on the covers. He works lying, surfs lying, thinks about algorithms lying down. 

Nathan Skyping from his bed in Atlanta.

And just as I was thinking he was an outlier, I hear from my Sami friend Fredrik Prost (see previous post) that the Sami like to lie down a lot. “It feels natural” he says “when you are in a tepee” (their traditional mode of habitation), “but we do it in people’s kitchens too.” Here are two photos he sent me of his brothers lying in modern settings. 

Fredrik’s brother socializing in the traditional Sami side-lying position.

Another of Fredrik’s brothers has found an even cozier position
- he’s in good company

It’s most common for the Sami to lie on the side, face perched on a hand or fist. Notice that both brothers have their shoulders, hips and ankles aligned, as in side-stretchlying (score, Gokhale Method!)  

Much of the (truly civilized) world recognizes the value of the siesta, or afternoon nap. How delicious to wake up refreshed and ready for another round of the hurly burly that is life. 

My friend Kouka taking a nap with her niece in Burkina Faso.

We I’ve mentioned the idea of lying breaks and horizontal socializing, the universal response has been “how do you avoid falling asleep?!” Oy! Maybe that’s just what needs to happen! As we hurl ourselves through ever-accelerating lifestyles, a little sleep punctuation may provide an even better interlude than the gym breaks we sometimes guilt-trip ourselves into. Rest is profoundly missing in our lives as increasing numbers of people suffer insomnia, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, and, more generally, restless mind syndrome. In my experience, restlessness begets restlessness - it’s helpful to break the cycle of sleep deprivation and rest deprivation. My friend and celebrated sleep expert William Dement, certainly agrees. It has become his one-man mission to get people to sleep more. He teaches that sleep deprivation is at the root of many evils ranging from depression to automobile accidents. And here I would like to join forces with him - if lying down induces you to sleep, that’s evidence you are running a sleep deficit, and it’s never too soon to catch up on it. 

But I suspect the benefits of a nap or stretchlying respite go beyond catching up on sleep. I suspect that our nuts and bolts can use the break as well. Gravity is a formidable force. We’ve evolved to handle it well (better than we give ourselves credit for), but we’ve napped to break our vertical stances, if we are to judge from people living in indigenous cultures and traditional societies. 

Taking a healthful mid-day nap - it can happen any place
at any time if you are able to improvise. Burkina Faso.

Perhaps those naps are part of the design of what it mean to be human. Perhaps the systematic weeding out of rest and repose from modern lifestyles is part of the reason we are literally breaking apart. 

My son Nathan is 6’5” - most furniture doesn’t fit him well. I used to think that was why he needed to lie more than most. Another theory I had was that his enormous expenditure of energy playing Ultimate frisbee at a high level requires him to compensate by lying down unusually much. 

Nathan playing Ultimate frisbee, a sport that requires
enormous exertion.Does this lead him to lie down more than average?

 Or did I prime him in his childhood with acupuncture “resets” so he is conditioned to associate lying down with deep relaxation?

Nathan receiving an acupuncture treatment from me when
he was a child. Perhaps this strengthened his association
between lying down and relaxation?

Mostly, I’m thinking the young man has some primal wisdom intact - and I’ve decided to try his habit on for size.

I’ve moved a couch over to the side of the room and replaced it with a mat, some bolsters and pillows. I’m still warming up to the novelty of just lying down to chat with company - I might need to replace Brian's couch with a mat too to make it work. So far he has resisted - he likes to perch and think of theorems on the couch. He does like how the living room has opened up... we’ll see how this develops and I’ll keep you posted. 

Our current living room arrangement - a work in progress...

I’d love to hear about your ideas and/or adventures in lying down. Pray tell!

Join us in an upcoming Free Workshop (online or in person).  

Find a Foundations Course in your area to get the full training on the Gokhale Method!  

We also offer in person or online Initial Consultations with any of our qualified Gokhale Method teachers.